Sarah vs the Ties that Bind
by aRegularJo
Summary: Sarah, with the help of Chuck, reacquaints herself with the two sisters she hasn't seen in years. How I fill in Sarah's backstory.
1. Prologue

Hey all, first Chuck fic here. This was started entirely on a whim based on the fact that Yvonne Strahovski looks, in my opinion, almost identical to Kate Winslet _and _Julia Stiles, so they're playing the roles in my head. Plus I've always been curious about the "sister" that she mentioned in "vs. the Wookie." It's loosely plotted out and quite a fun, light thing to write, so hopefully postings shall come. But damned if Sarah isn't the most difficult female character I've ever written. And I've written Temperance Brennan, so that's really saying something. And for those who got an author alert for Bones, don't worry, I'm still plowing away at "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." Anyways, please read and review!

A/N, June 2010: Hey guys, I've revamped the first four chapters to go AU at the end of S3...Thanks!

* * *

July 2011

Sarah cut the engine on the Porsche and leaned back in the seat. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

"You good?" Chuck asked beside her.

She stared at the house. It was nice. Gorgeous, actually — Arts and Crafts, she thought was the name for its style. It was an older split-level, probably built right after the earthquake, but clearly remodeled and well-cared-for. It was painted a shade close to slate and had a rust-colored door. There was a garden. A porch. There was actually a tricycle on the porch. It was almost mockingly beautiful.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I am."

"You sure you still want me to come with?" he asked, his hand resting on the door's handle. "I can take the car and go get coffee. It's San Francisco; there's got to be something good nearby."

"No. You let me come when we tracked down _your_ family, so…" Instead of finishing the sentence, she yanked her door open. "How much do you think this place cost?" she muttered.

"You know, we could have looked that up too," he said lightly.

"I think we snooped plenty," Sarah replied, wiping her palms on her jeans. "Ready?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yes. I said that."

"So did I. But you asked again, so I figured, you know, why not?"

Rolling her eyes, she marched toward the door. Chuck followed quickly. She rapped the door smartly once, twice.

To her surprise, a little girl, about six and with red hair and the deepest blue eyes, answered the door. "Hello?" she asked. "You're not Carmen and her mommy."

"Uh, no," Sarah said. "But is your mommy around?"

"Of course," she said. "Mommy! There's a strange lady and a strange man at the door!"

"Oh, lord," Sarah said.

"Relax, you're probably her aunt," Chuck said lowly from behind her.

"What, Emma?" a woman's voice yelled, and suddenly a willowy, medium-height blonde in white capris and a fitted blue flannel shirt emerged from some other room. "Oh, my god." She blinked, then blanched, then gripped her daughter's thin shoulders for support. "Samantha?"

"Yeah," Sarah let out a shaky, tremulous breath. "Hi, Andi."

Two months earlier

Sarah knocked the shot back, then lazily twirled the glass before setting it down upside down. A lone drop of tequila trickled down the side and slide onto the bar's sticky counter. Wait. The three shot glasses weren't in line. That needed to be fixed.

"I can't believe I'm gonna be an uncle," Chuck said, stretching a bit next to her.

"It's going to be a gorgeous baby," she said, trying to arrange the glasses. Her mind felt weirdly … full. And fuzzy. It could be the alcohol. After all, she had a fairly low tolerance because she rarely drank much, and tonight she'd had a lot. She'd been drinking for two, because Ellie couldn't drink. And she was being nice, because Ellie loved wine. So she was just doing the friendly thing, drinking it quickly so Ellie wouldn't get sad. Sad Ellie was bad. But the fuzzies had started before that. They'd started when Ellie had gripped Devon's hand and cried, "We're pregnant, you guys!" in that happy, joyful, Ellie tone.

"I could be an aunt," she said, staring at the upturned glasses.

"Sarah, you'll totally be an aunt."

"No. I mean. I could already be an aunt. To other small … humans." She concentrated on the glasses some more, literally too afraid to look at him.

He did a very poor job of concealing his jaw dropping. "What? That sister you mentioned once, that was … that wasn't part of the cover?"

"No, Chuck. It wasn't. You know the best cover is one that's mostly true," she huffed. Honestly. He'd been involved in espionage for nearly four years now. He should realize these things.

"Hey, sorry. You never brought her up, your dad never brought her up. … Why don't you tell me about her?" He touched her shoulder gently.

"Them," she corrected. "Another shot, please."

"Them?"

"Yes. I have two sisters. They're both older. Jamie was two years older than me, and Andi was three years older than Jamie. My dad liked boys' names for girls."

"Look, Sarah, I'm not … just, why haven't you mentioned them to me?" She could hear the unspoken _We've been together for over a year, we're getting married, don't you trust me, what happened to honesty?_

"I'm … Look, I'm sorry. I haven't seen them since I was 10."

"What, uh, what happened to them?" Chuck said nervously, smacking his lips together.

She sighed. He deserved this. Hell, she deserved this. But that didn't make it easier.

"I mean, nothing exciting. We were pretty normal for a while. It was us, Mom, Dad. We didn't know what Dad really did; he was gone a lot. I was a total Daddy's girl, we all were, but me the most. But we were with Mom most of the time. She … she ran a dance studio, that's what I remember most about her. She taught us to dance," she smiled sadly. It almost hurt to smile. "When I was nine, right after fourth grade started, she was killed in a car accident, going to pick up Andi from cheerleading. Dad tried to keep us together for a few months, but eventually he dropped us with our grandparents in New Jersey. I … It really upset me. I tried to find him. I ran away, made it on my own for five days. But I had to go back. So then I ran away again, to find him. I couldn't. He said he'd come back for us every few months, and so when he came back the first time I pretended to be too upset to see him leave that I couldn't say good-bye, and I hid in the trunk. I stayed there till he hit Ohio, too. After he found me, he told me I had spunk and I convinced him to let me stay. All I wanted to do was stay. So he did. But every time I asked to go back he said we couldn't. He convinced me it was too dangerous. And it probably was, so I eventually stopped asking. But I'm guessing they're still out there. With normal, ordinary lives. They'll be 32 and 35 now." She tried to keep the wistfulness and the gesturing under control, but she was pretty sure she failed, since Chuck grabbed her hands and placed them gently in her lap.

"Hey, now," he said. "Have you ever tried — have you ever tried to look them up, maybe? You've got all the databases; you can do that. You did it with my dad."

She shook her head. "It's in the passs't," she slurred. "And i'legal. And I'm sure they think I'm dead. And Sam is. So is'not worth it. It's better this way, really."

"Think about them, thinking you're dead for all these years. And you've given it a little thought, it still means something to you … It's worth it."

"No, Chuck. It's not. Drop it. Please," she said firmly.

She should have known that he wouldn't. Of course Chuck wouldn't drop it. And to be honest, she had probably known that all along, because she knew Chuck Bartowski and she knew what kind of guy he was. So when he approached her, kind of nervously, at work a week later, she could have guessed what was on the blank card he was gripping like it was the nation's nuclear codes.

"Chuck?" she asked. "What do you have there?"

"Well," he said, sitting next to her so that Casey, in the arcade, wouldn't hear them. "I know you told me to drop the whole 'you have two sisters' bombshell, but honestly, I think you knew I wouldn't. So. I ran a few searches and found them."

"You know that's illegal," she said quietly.

"Yeah, whatever. You did it for me," he smiled lightly and pushed the card, still closed, over to her. "Both of their addresses are in there. I found more info, but only if you want it."

She didn't open it immediately, because Casey and the rest of their team were there. But there wasn't a lot to do, and so she left early that night. Once home, she tented the card on her coffee table. Stared at it for a while. Finally, she grabbed it and read its contents.

_Andrea Mae Adler-Feldman_

_652 Alvaredo Street_

_San Francisco, CA 94114_

_Jamie Kathleen Porter_

_2550 Warring Street_

_Berkeley, CA 94704_

She unlocked her phone and thumbed _one_. "Hey," she said. "When you're done at work, can you … can you bring the other information you have back?"


	2. Chapter 1

Hey all! Thanks so much for the positive feedback on the first part. Here's the next offering, and I hope you like it, too. To clarify, this is in 2011, and goes AU at the end of S3. Everything you need to know about Chuck and Sarah is revealed in this part. Let me know what you think! xoxo, Jo.

* * *

July 2011

And so here she was, holding a cup of coffee in her big sister's immaculate white kitchen, watching said big sister freak out. She didn't quite remember why she had come, or know what she was supposed to say or do to connect with a sister she hadn't seen for two-thirds of her life. She realized she hadn't actually thought anything out. Which was unacceptable in her line of work. Things like that could get her killed. It had taken her two months from the night Chuck brought home a thin file with driver's license photos, marriage certificates and housing deeds to decide to visit at all. And in all that time, she hadn't even thought out the consequences? Who _was _she? _Way to stay sharp, Walker_, she could almost hear Casey growl. At moments like this, she could never tell if she was growing as a person or absolutely unraveling as the person she was. Every instinct she possessed was telling her to go to the bathroom and slip out the window. Maybe Andi would convince herself this was only a dream.

She had never wanted to look her family up; somewhere, in compartmentalized portion of her brain containing her past, she knew the divide was just too great. The years too many. The betrayal too much. But Chuck had thought she should. And he thought that she could. And those facts meant something, something big. And no matter what happened, she still had him. Which also meant something big. So she had leapt without thinking about consequences. He tended to inspire those types of moves in her. She smiled wryly, just thinking about him. He did that to her.

"I don't smoke," Andi explained, somewhat frazzled. "I mean, I did, at one point. Recreationally. In college. I'm not proud of it. But I haven't since the day I found out I was pregnant with Emma. The day, Sam. Or Sarah. Why do you go by Sarah now, anyways? And what happened? We thought you were _dead_. We thought you _ran away_ again. We tried to find you for _weeks_. Grandma and Grandpa filed a freaking missing person's report. And after a year, they said it was unlikely that you would be found."

"I wasn't kidnapped," she said, wishing that Chuck were there now. But no, she had stupidly told him to go with Andi's husband, Mitch, and their two kids, Emma and Topher, when Andi had started hyperventilating and insisted that they all get coffee so she and "Sam" could hash out the last twenty-odd years. Why she thought she could handle this without him she could not figure out, now. "I hid. In Dad's car. I made him let me stay."

Her eyes bugged out, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You get how hard that year was, right?" Andi asked. "First Mom dies, then Dad ditches us, then you go missing. Jamie and I were _wrecks_, for years. So much therapy. Drugs, in Jamie's case! We were expecting to find your _body_ in the trunk of some car off the Jersey Turnpike, all beaten up and bloodied. _Raped_. We didn't know _what_ might have happened. Do you _get that_?" Staring into terrified blue eyes, so similar to her own, it finally hit Sarah what it must have been like on the other end.

"I … I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I thought … I thought we were coming back. I didn't realize for weeks that we weren't," Sarah said, putting her head in her hands. This had been a mistake. "I swear, Andi." She put her hand over her sister's.

"You know what, I'm sorry, but I need to call Jamie. She should come over for this. She lives …"

"In Berkeley, right? Lawyer here, married to a professor at Cal, with a two-year-old son, Colin," Sarah said.

Andi stared at her. "You _really _have some explaining to do."

"Yes, I do, I know. You know what, call Jamie. It will probably be easier to explain it to both of you at once."

Andi squeezed her forearm tightly. "I really — I'm so glad to see you again. You have no idea how happy I am, that you're alive and safe and all grown up and … well, you're happy, right?" Sarah nodded. "Good. Good. And I'm really so happy, but it's just …"

"It's a shock. I get that. I'm … kind of reeling, too." She swallowed.

Andi smiled, then fished her iPhone out of a nearby Longchamps tote. She set it on the kitchen island, pressed a few buttons, and Jamie's photo — still so recognizable after so many years — lit up the screen. Andi hit _speaker_ and then they both waited. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Finally, a voice cracked, "Heya, sis."

"Hey, James," Andi smiled. "Hey, hey. Are you… are you sitting?"

"No, Colin and I are actually at the Ferry Building for the farmer's market. Why? Is everything OK?"

"No. Yes. Yes, actually. Jamie, um. … Well, I've actually got Sam sitting in my kitchen."

"Sam who?"

"Sam, our sister, Sam."

"Hi, Jamie," Sarah said weakly.

"What? Am I on speaker? Andi, put me on handset. Now." Andi quickly picked up the phone and Sarah bit her lip.

"Jamie, I swear, it's her. She looks… Well, she looks almost exactly like you, actually. And I would know the eyes anywhere. Come over. Just come over, OK? Great. Thanks. Love you." She hung up and smiled. "She'll be here in 15 minutes."

"Great," Sarah smiled. She did not feel like smiling.

"So, Chuck, huh? You two are …"

"Engaged," she held up her left hand, let the diamond flash a little like a proper fiancée. "We've been together…Well, off and on, for almost four years, actually."

She smiled. "It took Mitch and me almost five years to get everything straightened out enough to get married. Jamie, though, she and Daniel all but eloped. They'd been dating for four months and were engaged for three weeks."

"Jamie always was impulsive," she smiled. "Remember that trip to the Shore the last summer Mom was alive? She stole that surfboard and went surfing even though she'd never seen a surfboard."

Andi smiled. "Yeah. You should have seen her in high school." She shifted as they let the awkwardness of the comment sink in. "So when's the wedding?"

"It's … We're still in the planning stages. With our … with our jobs, it's tough to plan a wedding. But next May. In LA. You … I'd like you to come. If you'd like."

Andi smiled. "I'd love to."

Jamie barged in the kitchen then, as direct and fast as Sarah remembered. "Andi, you better not be… Oh, my god. Sam." She stopped, and her jaw went slack. She pressed a palm to her mouth, and her eyes began to shine with tears. "It's really, really you."

"Yeah. Hi," she smiled, standing up.

"Oh, my god," Jamie grasped her desperately with one hand, the other still holding Colin, a gorgeous, dark-haired alert toddler. And Jamie looked gorgeous, with long blond hair that she'd messily pulled half-back. "Oh my god, you're alive. You're alive! This," she stepped back and stared at Sarah, her eyes shining. "This is so fantastic. Sam. Oh my god. What … what happened? But, no, seriously. Where the hell have you been?"

She hugged Jamie tightly, again — Jamie had always been the excitable, tempestuous one, whereas Andi had always been a little reserved, anxious, a typical older sister. She thought that Andi and Ellie would actually get along pretty well.

"Okay. Yeah. I suppose I should start at the beginning?"

"Yes, please," Jamie said, setting Colin down. She looked back and forth. "I just realized how much we all look alike. Even now. It's … well, it's kind of fantastic, don't you think?" She started laughing.

She smiled, and stared at her two sisters. It was true. They'd been practically identical as children, mini-me's of their mother's, with the long blonde hair she'd always been so proud of. And they were still strikingly identical. They had the same strong jaws and chin, though Andi's features were probably the softest, and she currently had much shorter hair. And Jamie had their dad's brown eyes, which Sarah remembered her complaining about, years ago. _The prettiest girls in books are always __blonde__ and __blue-eyed__, _she'd whined. And Sarah was taller than either of them — ironically, Andi was shortest. But other than that, she had sisters that _looked like_ they belonged together. It felt… It felt remarkable, like when she'd figured out that spending her life with Chuck was what she should do. It reinforced that she'd been right to find them. She breathed a sigh of relief that at least they hadn't tried to kill her.

"Well," she said, starting the story at the night of their father's first — and only — visit to their grandparents'. "He was a con artist, which I didn't realize for a while. I asked a couple of times when we were going back but he told me it was too dangerous. So I stopped asking. We moved around a lot. It was just the two of us so we got pretty close. It was … us against the world, I guess. I knew what we were doing was wrong, but it always seemed OK."

"We knew, you know," Jamie said.

"Knew what?"

"That he was a con artist. The year after … everything, a FBI guy came around, looking for him," Jamie looked at her and shook her head. "It isn't important. Continue." She waved her on expectantly. She could see why Jamie became a lawyer.

"By the time I was 14 or 15, I refused to participate in the stuff, so he mostly went off on his own to do stuff. It started to really come apart; it wasn't fun the way it had been. We moved every year or so, once something went bad and someone was close to catching him. He was arrested a couple of times but always managed to get out after a few weeks. Then, when we were in San Diego and I was a senior in high school, Dad … got arrested for some pretty big charges." Her sisters exchanged a look. They weren't too surprised.

She took a breath, knowing intuitively that she had to keep going, that she had to come clean. It was the only way to have a relationship with them, if she wanted one. If they wanted one. "But, um, one of the men who arrested him… He had some connections to the CIA. He thought I'd … he thought I'd make a good agent. So he recruited me. I … was 17, and didn't really realize that I had other options. And I've been an officer ever since. That's _all_ I can tell you about my job," she looked at her sisters. She _really _should not have said that; would very obviously get chewed out by Beckman come Monday. But it was the only way she could explain things. And she _wanted_ to explain things, desperately.

She took a breath and continued. "I finished high school, was sent to Harvard by the government. I studied psychology and linguistics, picked up quite a few languages too, and spent my summers in … training. After graduation I spent a year in D.C., then started traveling, basically anywhere they needed me. It was … a lot. In 2007 I moved to Los Angeles for an assignment of indefinite length. I met Chuck who is also involved with what I do. And he's great. He's just … brilliant and sweet and really funny. He keeps me sane most days. We started dating seriously about two years ago. We'll be based out of LA permanently now; it's near his sister and her husband. They're … really great. You'd probably all really get along, actually."

"So the CIA changed your name?" Jamie asked. "And you're seriously, like, some kick-ass spy? Like in _Alias_? I loved that show."

"I wouldn't. … really, no details about the job. My name is legally still Samantha Adler, but I haven't gone by that since I left you guys, really. Dad and I had to change names a lot. The CIA gave me the base cover Sarah Walker, so most of the time that's my identity. And … it fits, now. Chuck calls me that, his family calls me that, our friends call me that. Chuck has another name, too, for work. And once we're married I'm going to legally change my name to Sarah Samantha Bartowski for civilian life, and Sarah Walker will stay my cover. If that makes sense." She shook her head. She and Beckman had worked it out last month, and it truthfully still confused her a bit. "Anyways, that's it."

"I can't believe this," Andi muttered. "I honestly can't believe this. This is completely surreal."

"It's a lot to take in, I know," Sarah said.

"We're not mad at you," Jamie said, though Sarah hadn't offered an apology and didn't think they were mad at her. "And … do you still see Dad?"

"Not really," she shook her head. "He comes and goes, sometimes. He's a wanted criminal, so it's really kind of better that he stays away from Chuck and me. He drops by sometimes though. It's… complicated."

"That jackass," Jamie muttered.

"James," Andi reprimanded.

"Seriously, Andrew! First he abandons us, then he kidnaps Sam — Sarah, sorry — and drags her into being a con-artist kid like something in _Les Mis_, then he gets himself arrested and abandons _her_, then pops into and out of her life. Come on. That's douchebaggery, right there." Both of them started pacing then.

"Don't, please. I know what he did was wrong, but let's not rehash it, OK?" Sarah tried to defend him. "But really. Tell me … tell me about your lives."

So she learned all the things that weren't in the file. Grandpa had passed away three years ago, but Grandma, now 89, was in a nursing home nearby, with Alzheimer's. They'd stayed in Short Hills for the rest of their teenaged years; Andi had gone to Columbia for undergrad and then Yale for her master's in architecture, then moved out to San Francisco to be closer to Jamie, who had attended Brown for undergrad but then gone to Stanford for law school, and had declared within minutes of arriving that she was going to be buried in the Bay Area.

"Chuck went to Stanford, too. He … well, he had a bad last year, but he liked it for the most part, I think. I went up to visit with him a few years ago and it's gorgeous."

"Isn't it?" Jamie grinned. "I'm so happy I got this one to come out here, too. She actually thought she could have a fun life in Boston or New York. Please. They're freezing."

"Oh, come on, you've hated Boston since Mark Feinberg dumped you for that BC girl sophomore year." They both laughed. Sarah wondered, instantly, if this could have been her life. The two of them had an easy relationship, where their sentences overlapped and their communication relied mainly on shorthand and memories. With just one glance around, she saw at least four photos of both of them. They seemed to notice her discomfort though, and quieted immediately.

"So, um, your kids, wow. They seem great," she said, nodding.

"Yeah," Andi smiled. "Are you and Chuck planning on having any?"

"Eventually, yeah, I think we'd like to," she said, twisting her engagement ring. "Wedding first, though. That's kind of the big hurdle right now. Chuck's sister, Ellie, is kind of nuts about planning in general, and now she's pregnant so she's _completely_ emotional, and I'm … not the type to get worked up about a wedding. Our motto is one mission at a time."

"You have details? A date?" Jamie pressed, smiling. "Sorry, I didn't really get any wedding planning so I kind of love hearing about them."

"It sounds like it was your own fault," Sarah teased.

Jamie grinned and hugged her. "I've missed you, Samuel," she proclaimed. Sarah smiled at the childhood nickname.

So they talked the wedding for a while, and husbands, and then Chuck and Mitch and the kids came back, Topher standing on Chuck's shoe and gripping his leg. She smiled at the scene.

"Uncle Chuck, come see Harry!" Emma shrieked, running through the kitchen to destinations unknown.

"Emma Claire, that snake will _stay _in its cage!" Andi yelled. "Do not even lift that lid."

"Chuck _hates_ snakes," Sarah murmured, standing too.

"Which is why it's going to stay in its cage," he said, coming over to kiss her lightly. "And why _you_ are coming to see it too."

"If you say so, Uncle Chuck," she said, kissing him again.

He swung an arm around her shoulder, and she slid her arm around his waist. They walked like this a lot. It was comfortable. "Easiest way to explain it to the kids."

"No, yeah, it makes sense," she said. "So what do we have here, Emma?" she said, staring at a terrarium with a spotted brown snake in it. Chuck tensed; his face actually turned green. She didn't love snakes but it was nowhere near as bad as Chuck. And if she remembered correctly, Andi _hated_ snakes.

"This is Harry. I named him that cause he doesn't _have_ hair," Emma said proudly. "He doesn't do too much. He's a ball python. The snake guy taught me how to hold him but I don't think Mom likes him too much so I can't get him out," she rolled her eyes. "Do you like snakes, Aunt Sarah?"

Taken aback a little, she said, "Well, probably more than your mom."

"He looks like he'd be scary but he actually doesn't do much," Emma explained.

Sarah looked behind her, where Andi and Mitch were conferencing and Jamie, holding Colin, was on the phone. "What does … what does he eat, Emma?"

"We have frozen mice in the fridge in the basement. They're kinda funny-looking, you wanna see?" she asked eagerly.

"Um, why don't you show us your … bedroom instead, Emma?" Sarah said, staring at Chuck's face. He was absolutely _riveted_ with the snake. In a bad way.

"Chuck, Sarah," Andi said, as Mitch grabbed his cell phone. "_Don't_ go upstairs, it's embarrassingly messy. Mitch is calling down to this great restaurant to get a table for all of us, and Jamie's getting Daniel to come in, he had to go into the office. We'd love to take you guys out to dinner."

"Oh, I don't know," Sarah said. "It's getting late, and it's a _really _long drive back to L.A., and we don't have any nice clothes for a dinner…"

"Relax, you're fine. This place is pretty San Francisco — huge wine list, organic everything — but it's really casual and great. And hey, if it gets really late, we've got a guest bedroom. You can stay. If you like."

"We wouldn't want to be a burden," Sarah began, but Chuck cut in.

"We'd love to. Thanks, Andi," he smiled, rubbing her shoulder gently. "Come on. I'm starved."

"Far be it from me to keep you from your food," she teased. "Thanks, Andi."

Chuck's phone started playing _Brown Eyed Girl. _Shit. "I gotta take this," he said, grabbing his phone. "Don't worry," he kissed her temple.

"Who's that? You look terrified," Andi remarked.

"His sister. Ellie. We, um, we didn't really tell her what we were doing today."

"Ah," Andi said. "He uses _Brown Eyed Girl_ for his sister?" she laughed.

She smiled a little. "When they were little their dad used to sing it to her."

"That's sweet. They're close?"

"Yeah. Really … close," she nodded.

"Sarah, it's OK."

"I'm sorry?"

"If they're close. If you're close to … Ellie. In fact, I hope you are. No offense, but spending your childhood with our undependable father, then secretly being in the CIA for what, 13 years? That sounds lonely, Samuel."

She didn't really have a good reply to that. "I love my job," she said finally.

"I remember when you would sneak around the house when we were kids. We could _never_ hear you. And god, you were _so _good at picking locks. So I know you're amazing at it."

She smiled. "Thanks." She turned as Chuck came back in. "Hey, how's Ellie?"

"Good. She wanted to meet up for dinner, and she found all her old wedding CDs that she wanted to drop off with you, but I told her we went to San Francisco on a whim."

"She's not mad?"

"Please. I just won _so_ many points for taking you on a romantic getaway. She started yelling at Awesome about taking her to Baja," he smiled.

"Awesome?" Andi asked.

"Chuck's brother-in-law. He's …"

"Awesome," they both said at the same time.

"Guys, come on," Mitch said. "I talked to David, we're in at Flour + Water."

Jamie popped up behind him. "And Daniel's meeting us there. Cars, now."

"Great, let's get going," Andi said, sliding an arm around Sarah's shoulder.

At the car, she silently handed Chuck her keys. "You OK? It's your car."

She shrugged. "You know San Francisco better," she said simply.

The restaurant was, as Andi had described, very "San Francisco." One of Mitch's colleagues at the investment bank was an investor in the place, and they were seated immediately at one of the long, warm wooden tables. The food was delicious, and there was plenty of wine, which, she noticed, her sisters drank copiously, as did she. Made it easier. She and Chuck met Daniel, who had the same hot-but-nerdy thing going that Chuck did (he wore Converse, which she noticed that Chuck noticed), and it was generally pretty fun and almost comfortable.

Weirdly, Jamie, who had been so straightforward and gung-ho at Andi's, seemed to withdraw as the night wore on. When she excused herself for the restroom, Sarah quickly followed.

"Everything alright? You look a little tense," she said casually as they washed their hands.

"No, no, it's fine. I just… started thinking."

"Whenever Chuck says that I tell him he needs to stop that," she tried for light and easygoing. She could handle this situation. She was good at handling situations.

"No, I just thought," she cut off abruptly. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't ask this earlier, but I was just so happy and stunned I didn't. And I couldn't bring this up in front of Andi; once she's settled on something she's loyal to the death. But it just hit me… why didn't you come back after Dad got arrested? Why didn't you ever try to contact us in the last 10 years? Or once you figured out that what dad was doing was _wrong_?"

She was quiet for a minute. "It was … Look, high school was the worst for me. The worst, especially after he got arrested. And then … I got recruited so quickly and. I don't know. After everything, I felt that I couldn't go back. Fear, maybe. A little. And I was so hurt by Dad, I think."

"So what changed? Why now?" Jamie leaned on the counter.

She smiled as she realized, just now, what had changed. "Chuck, I guess. When I told him everything, finally, he wouldn't let it go. It took a few months, but I did come around. I hope… I hope that was the right choice."

Jamie smiled. "It absolutely was." She hugged her. "Seriously. It's … hard and unreal, but … amazing that you're back. Truly. It's like… this hole was filled."

She smiled back. "Thank you. I'm … I'm glad I did it."

So they had enough to drink that they got too tired, and they took Andi up on her offer to crash at her place. The next morning, Daniel and Jamie brought in bagels, cream cheese, and coffee from Café 504, which Jamie swore was the best coffee in Berkeley, and they all ate a brunch before starting back to LA. Everyone exchanged phone numbers and hugs, and Jamie tried her hardest to sell her on the two of them flying down and then the three of them going to a spa for a few days. "It'll be fun. Girls' weekend!" she swore.

Sarah laughed. "I'll think about it. I promise."

She was silent as the started the drive down California. Finally, as they passed the turnoff for San Jose, he asked, "You good?"

She smiled without looking at him. "Yeah. I am."


	3. Chapter 2

Hey guys, here's the next installment! I struggled a little bit with the characterizations, but ultimately I think it fits with the fact that it's over a year down the road and the two of them have clearly been making a relationship work well enough to get engaged. Hopefully everything is clear, and let me know what you think! I really enjoy hearing all your feedback!

_

* * *

Two Weeks Later_

"Yeah. No, Andi. Yeah, that sounds great. No, Jamie already emailed me about it too. No, I think the kids will love Disneyland while we're at the spa. I'll try and clear our schedules for that weekend. And yes, I got the photos from Emma's softball game. She looked great. Awesome. I'll talk to you later. Say hi to Mitch and the kids. Will do. Bye." Chuck smiled as Sarah hung up with her newly rediscovered — and now in near-constant contact — big sister. After a beat, she finally cracked, "And I thought Ellie was intense."

"I think she's still pretty intense. Just say 'wedding' in front of her if you want a refresher. Here, taste this." He'd been trying to learn a few more recipes. Sarah was a pretty versatile cook, but he didn't want to have to wash the dishes every night to make up for his lack of culinary skills.

Obediently, she opened her mouth. "Not bad. What is this again?"

"The beef topping for beef stroganoff. Got it from Ms. Paula Dean."

"And exactly how much butter goes in _this_ recipe?" she rolled her eyes and smirked. "You really need to find a different go-to chef or I'm going to get fat."

"Please. Now that I've met your two non-combat-trained sisters, I know that complaint is genetically impossible." She smiled the Sarah number 15: Kind of sad, kind of pained, but trying to be happy. "What?"

"What what?" she asked, pursing her lips as she looked up.

He quickly collated all the intel he'd gathered since Sarah had casually dropped the "Oh-by-the-way-I've-got-two-sisters" bombshell a little over two months ago. It was something he wasn't particularly happy about — in fact, it would have been great if she had mentioned it, oh, about a year ago. But he got it, really. This stuff was bigger than _I love you_ or Bryce or Graham or her dad, and this was the way that Sarah just was, and he loved her, unconditionally. And he was trying to be as supportive as possible. "It's just, you were really happy about this at first. Kind of quiet, but I could tell you were happy. And now that they're planning visits and spa days and calling and sending iPhotos and generally behaving like Ellie when we let her, you're… it's not the same quiet. You're withdrawn. So. Everything OK?"

"Yeah," she sighed, sitting at their table. "It really, really is. It's like it just hit me, after I got a picture message of Colin holding a balloon last night when we were out on the mission. I just thought, Wow. I have sisters."

"That's a good thing, right?" he said. The best way to approach Sarah was to be nonconfrontational, so he concentrated on stirring his egg noodles. "It's why we went up there." He'd been a little irritated that Sarah hadn't told him about her sisters earlier, but it was understandable.

"Yeah, no. I just realized how … _simple_ things would have been if I hadn't been so stupid when I was nine. How normal. I'd have lived with my grandparents, probably followed the two of them to the Bay Area … I just screwed everything up. And now we'll never get those years back. And it's not like I traded them in for anything great." She looked at him plaintively and bit her lip.

"Hey, now," he said, turning the burner off and facing her. "You were _nine_. Nobody blames you, least of all Andi or Jamie. And you dad did have his problems, but whatever his many flaws, he loves you. A lot. And if he hadn't been arrested you'd never have joined the CIA, and then we would have never met. And that's just unacceptable."

She smiled wanly. "Thanks, Chuck." She didn't seem too comforted, but he knew by now that he had to let it go.

"You're welcome. Now, what time is Casey coming over for Beckman?"

She checked her watch. "In maybe five minutes. Then we've got Ellie to discuss flowers at 7:30, and whatever we're doing tonight will probably start around midnight, if you want to grab a nap or get some work done."

"I should probably get some real work done, actually, I'm kind of behind." After the BuyMore's explosion/implosion and his negotiation of Orion's secrets for protection from the CIA, they had been set up with proper covers for what was officially known as the Inheritance Project. For the past year and a half, he and Casey had ran a "security firm" — he designing and installing cybersecurity systems, while Casey handling traditional security and Sarah leading the company — while actually working from Orion's intel, combined with the resources of the CIA, to track down about a half-dozen highly dangerous intelligence cabals. The CIA and NSA had sent six more agents to assist with that, and those agents were "employees" at C-Squared Security. Morgan was the office manager, in charge of making sure no civilians found out about anything. It was a great cover — they even got to do a minimal amount of legitimate work, which was interesting but not intense. Their new base, Clubhouse, occupied two floors in a nondescript beige office building downtown. As leaders of the task force, they designed and monitored missions and handled assets and intelligence, and often made decisions without even the input of Beckman.

"Sounds good," she said. "Do you think we should tell Ellie? And what about Beckman?" They still hadn't figured out a way to tell her that they'd willfully blown their covers.

He shrugged. "It's your decision. I can handle Ellie, if you want."

"Maybe," she bit her lip. "And should I ask them to be in the wedding? It'd be the nice thing, right?"

"It's up to you," he repeated. "We haven't really discussed the wedding party. I can kind of tell Ellie's chomping to start dress-shopping."

"Well, who do you want?" she asked, turning to face him. "They have to match."

"Well, Morgan, Devon, Casey, maybe Warner, I guess." Theo Warner was kind of his protégé — it was very cool, having a protégé. "What's the rule with the number of guests and the wedding party?"

"I didn't know there was one, but we've got about 80 people, I think? And I guess I could have Ellie, my sisters, and Carina. That would be even, then." How in the world did they know 80 people?

"Are you still planning on asking Casey to walk you down the aisle?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "Soon."

"Bartowski! Walker!" Casey yelled, not bothering to knock. "Who cooked tonight?"

"I did. Beef stroganoff," he said proudly.

Casey glanced at Sarah, who raised her eyebrows and said, "It's edible."

"Let's eat after the meeting," Chuck said quickly. "It's not _quite_ done. To the Batcave!" Sarah rolled her eyes because she hated his nickname for the satellite base located in their basement, but opened the door and entered the passcode anyways.

The meeting with Beckman was not really about the mission that night — which was a straightforward plant-a-bug job — but instead focused mainly on a progress report from their past week. Still, Chuck was stoked about the mission, because the three of them rarely did field work like this any more. As Beckman was about to beep out, Sarah piped up with a "Ma'am?"

"Yes, Agent Walker?" Beckman asked, folding her arms.

"Ma'am, Chuck and I thought you should be informed — there are now four more people that have a general understanding of our jobs." Casey's jaw dropped.

"Explain now, Walker, Bartowski." The General did _not _sound pleased.

"General —" he began, but Sarah cut him off.

"Ma'am, as I believe you're aware of, I have two sisters. They haven't been a part of my life since I was about 10, but I've wanted to reconnect with them lately. Chuck looked them up —"

"On Google," he interrupted, because it was true. He hadn't misappropriated any government intelligence. Well. Not that much, anyways.

"And we went and visited them in San Francisco two weeks ago. They needed an explanation for why I haven't seen them since 1990, so I told them I was recruited by the CIA at 17, and that I met Chuck through work."

"And you couldn't tell them your cover story?"

"Given our family history and the fact that I've changed my name, yes, I decided honesty was the best policy. I told both my sisters, and gave them permission to tell their husbands. All they know is that I work for the CIA. They live in San Francisco and have no known links to me. I think there's no reason to worry about their safety."

Beckman eyed her warily. "I hope you trust your judgment, Agent Walker," she said, before beeping out.

"That went pretty well, hey," Chuck said.

"Almost too well," Sarah said suspiciously.

"Whatever. Where's the mystery meat?"

Casey didn't hate the food too much, and they agreed to meet at Clubhouse shortly before midnight. Almost as soon as Casey left, Ellie pulled up with a plateful of cookies and a list of area florists for them to research. Sarah dragged out _The Complete Wedding Planning Planner_ that Ellie had gotten her the day they announced they were engaged and turned to the lavender section: Flowers.

"Okay, so tonight we're just looking at which local florists we want to check out, and getting ideas for what we might want the bouquets and centerpieces to look like. But we really need to take care of the bigger things first, like color and dress style before we can really move forward."

They'd chosen a location — the beach where Sarah had first asked him to trust her, where he'd proposed — and a date, but beyond that Sarah seemed, at least to Ellie, pretty reluctant. In reality, they were both pretty concerned with a lot of the logistics (including Sarah's sisters, but also including how they were going to send invitations to many of the guests, whose whereabouts were confidential.)

"Yeah, I know. I've been looking at those bridal magazines. I know that it'd be easy to do blue and yellow with a beach, but I'm thinking maybe a green? Nothing too bright or too dark, but I like green. A _green_ green, not pastel. Like, sage or … fern. Would that look weird with a beach?" Chuck stifled a chortle. The look on Sarah's face was her spy-spiffed version of deer-in-the-headlights, meaning she still had no clue but didn't want to disappoint Ellie.

"Noooo, that sounds _great_," Ellie said, smiling broadly. "Chuck, go get your laptop. This could be good."

Ellie quickly navigated to the David's Bridal home page, and showed them the color she was thinking of, which was (shocker) exactly the one Sarah had in mind. And suddenly the two of them were off, talking white orchids and deep pink flowers to complement the dresses, and a sash on Sarah's dress, and centerpieces with candles.

"How big do you guys want the wedding party to be?" Ellie asked tentatively.

They looked at each other. "Well, Ellie, we'd like you and Devon to be maid of honor and best man, if you'd do it," Sarah said sincerely.

Ellie smiled. "Of course, you two. It'd be an honor," she hugged them both.

"And then we'll have three bridesmaids and three groomsmen," she said.

"Do you know who you'll ask? Are they local, for fittings?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know who, but no, none are really local," Sarah said. She looked at Chuck, who nodded. He couldn't help her through this. "Well, on Chuck's side, Morgan, Casey, and your dad. And on mine, my college friend Carina —" he had found it _hilarious_ when he realized that Sarah and Carina _actually were_ college roommates, assigned as the only pre-tapped agents at Harvard — "and, uh, my two sisters, actually."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ellie asked.

"My … two sisters. We'd been estranged for a while; Chuck and I tracked them down a few weeks ago." Ellie, he realized, knew _nothing_ about Sarah's past and family. "My mother died when I was nine, and we were split up. They went with our grandparents and I went with our dad. I hadn't seen them since then."

"Do they know about … everything?" Ellie asked, waving around as if that indicated _secret government agents_.

"You mean what we really do? Yes," Sarah said. "I told them. They're … we've all got a lot to adjust to."

"That's, well, to borrow a phrase from Devon, awesome."

"I haven't asked them yet, so we'll wait and see. I want Casey to walk me down the aisle, so if they don't want to, we can just have you and Carina and Morgan and Devon."

"Are you kidding? Of course they'll want to," Ellie said. "They're your sisters."

"In the technical sense, yes."

"It doesn't matter," Ellie swore. "They're family."

"I think I'm beginning to understand that word, finally," Sarah murmured. The frankness surprised Chuck, and they shared a small smile.

That night, after they've returned from the mission and he'd left a message on Warner's voicemail, saying they wouldn't be in the office until past noon, Chuck returned to bed to find Sarah staring contemplatively at the ceiling.

"I thought you would have passed out already," he said, sliding in on his side.

"I have a feeling tonight I'm going to be a bit of an insomniac — you should get some shut-eye, though, it got kind of tight there at the end."

"We've both seen worse," he said, trailing a finger down her upper arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"Whatever _it _is," he said, though he was pretty sure he knew exactly what it was. "Look, Sarah, I know you … bury things. And I know if I push it you're liable to throw a pencil clean through a window," she smiled a little at that. "But whatever's bothering you, if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

"I know you are," she said quietly.

"Is this about your sisters again?"

"Of course it is," she said, but not meanly.

"I don't think I've asked this — you _like_ them, right? As people?"

She laughed. "Of course. I do. They're great."

"It's just a little overwhelming right now?"

"Yeah," she shifted away from him, staring at the ceiling again. "They're both so good at being sisters. And I just… I can't do that, not like that. And I'm … I guess I'm just concerned about what happens when they figure it out."

"Sarah, that's just crazy talk," he said, bluntly. "Yeah, maybe you weren't four years ago. But that's why you didn't do this four years ago. And you're a _great_ sister/friend/fiancée, whatever. You're amazing with Ellie, with Awesome, even with Morgan. If anything, this is just you being normal now. And that's a good thing, right?" Sarah had wanted a _normal_ life for almost as long as he knew her. "Normal?"

She giggled a little. "Yeah. But they _have _each other and they just assume I'm going to be able to be the same thing. You, Ellie, Awesome, Morgan, met me and got to know me. This feels different."

"Yeah, cause they know you already. You're still the same person as you were when you were 10. Maybe a little more cautious and definitely better at kicking ass, but the stuff that sisters care about … that stuff doesn't change. It can't. It's impossible," he declared. She giggled a little but still looked hesitant. "And just think about it from their side. They thought you got kidnapped and murdered. They won't care if it's awkward or imperfect. They got you back alive. They just want to know you." He kissed her nose. "I swear. You trust me?" It was a phrase they invoked only rarely; at this point, the question meant more than saying _I love you_.

"Yeah," she finally said.

"Good. Because now that our number of in-laws has gone up by like 200 percent, we've got twice the amount of _boring_ that accompanies normal. More photos of Colin with balloons, and sitting through 3 hours of Emma's dance recital to see her be in the back behind the girl who keeps messing up, and listening to debates about organic versus local food…." She finally laughed freely, and he took the opportunity to slide his arms around her waist, pulling her tight to him, and kissing her neck until she turned around and kissed him deeply.

"That sounds pretty perfect," she admitted.


	4. Chapter 3

Thanks to everyone who's been reading! Wasn't last night's episode great? Love this show so much. Please keep reading and reviewing!

* * *

_Mid-August, 2011_

"Ok, Mitch, I applied their first coat of sunscreen, but they're going to need another around noon and then again at four. And make sure Toph keeps his hat on, please? He doesn't like the ties and he'll just take it off if you let him."

"Andi, really," Mitch laughed. "I can handle a little sunscreen."

"You have to take it seriously," Andi insisted. "Our kids are half Jewish and half German/Polish/Irish, they are pasty and_ will burn like crisps_ if you don't."

"I know, I know, I was in Hawaii last year, too," Mitch said gently.

Sarah watched the entire scene with amusement. Her sisters and their families had flown down for a weekend, and she had to admit she was nervous.

She still wasn't sure why she had called them up. She and Chuck had a life, a very full life, without them. They had fun and they had friends and they worked together and laughed together and were normal together and were spies together. She recognized that it was pretty close to perfect, without them. But the more content she became with it — she and Ellie had gotten close, then they'd gotten engaged and started planning a wedding — the more she realized how potentially stifling just becoming a part of Chuck's world was. Her friends were his friends; her 'family' was his family. Casey was probably the only person that was possibly hers first, and she was disappearing as an independent entity. She knew that, for this to work long-term, she needed more beyond Chuck and their work together. So that was part of it, but she still wasn't entirely comfortable with it. Potentially problematic as full integration into Chuck's life was, there was still something safe in it.

Because these people … they were her blood. That meant they were her responsibility. And they had no idea how not-normal she was, how precious stuff like this was and how absolutely unused to it she was. How she still wasn't sure she could be a friend or a sister, no matter what Chuck said. Plus, she really _really_ just wanted them to like her. But the bantering about stuff like sunscreen just felt out of her depth.

Not that she was even going to Disneyland; Andi had planned a "rejuvenation day" with a four-hour spa appointment followed by shopping, before meeting the others for dinner. That meant she had a good nine hours all alone with her sisters.

She wasn't too concerned with sending Chuck off with the guys and three kids for the day: Emma appeared to have a little bit of a crush on him and he was currently running around in the front yard with Topher on his shoulders. No, she was more concerned for her own day with the sisters. At a spa. She had never done the complete spa thing — she'd even gotten out of it for Ellie's wedding, what with Fulcrum kidnapping Mr. Bartowski and them having to make an impromptu trip to Barstow. She had never wanted to do the spa thing. But she was going to do the spa thing.

"Come on, there'll be lots of hot chicks in skimpy outfits," Jamie said, smirking, to Daniel as they emerged from the house, swinging Colin between them.

"Honey, they're like, _Ariel_. That's not remotely attractive. It's porny," Daniel objected.

"Well, I went down with a few friends during law school, and they serve beer, so just have one at lunch and go around making funny faces for photos. Also, make sure to get plenty of pictures with Colin with the hot chicks in skimpy outfits."

"My son, the ladies' man," Daniel deadpanned, swinging Colin up so he giggled.

"Alright everyone ready?" Mitch called, clapping his hands. Emma, who was showing off her cartwheel skills to "Uncle Chuck," (who still had Topher on his shoulders, where the little boy was grabbing fists of his curls) quickly ran over to her parents.

"OK, cell phones are all on?" Andi asked, needlessly checking her own. "Chuck, you have the park passes? Mitch, you've got the correct addresses programmed into the GPS and the Park Pack?"

"Park pack?" Sarah interrupted.

"You know, Band-Aids, extra sunscreen, towels, a change of clothes for Topher," Andi explained. "And Daniel, you have … Colin?" she asked, her voice trailing off when she realized she hadn't delegated anything to him.

"I have Colin," Daniel intoned solemnly, tickling his son.

"Great! Let's get going!" Andi said. She even clapped.

Sarah stepped over to Chuck. "Hey, goofball," she smiled. "Hey, Topher," she reached up and tickled the little boy's chin. "Have fun today."

"You, too," Chuck said, reaching one hand over to stroke her cheek. "You're good with everything?"

"Yeah," she said. "Well. I hope so." She took his wrist and ran her thumb along its inside.

"It'll be great," he said confidently. "Like Ellie in one of her moods. Relax a little and it'll be fun."

"Yeah. I know," she said, leaning up to kiss him. "And _you_ don't have too much fun. Remember, it's a kids' park."

"Uh-huh. Of course. I'm still flexing my cool-uncle muscles," he grinned.

"Oh, whatever. I've seen the way Emma looks at you. You're golden."

"Chuck! Sarah! Are you ready?" Jamie called, standing by the passenger door of Sarah's Porsche.

"Coming!" she called, giving him a quick peck. "Send me photos!"

They slid into her car, and she realized that Ellie had left a stack of bridal magazines on the passenger seat from their lunch on Thursday. "Sorry, we'll just move those," she said.

"How's wedding planning going?" Andi asked. "You and Chuck seem pretty not-stressed about it, which is good."

"Almost too not-stressed, if you ask Ellie," she laughed. "We didn't want to do anything huge and were just planning on getting married, but Ellie convinced us that it had to be something _special. _We have the location and the tent. The flowers are purple, pink, and white, but with a lot of green leaves and things in them. And we were going to have green dresses and cummerbunds, but now I'm thinking more like chocolate brown," she bit her lip, to see what her sisters would say.

"Ooh, that would be pretty," Andi said from the back seat. "I had teal but I always liked the espresso look."

There. Settled.

"Screw the wedding," Jamie said. "That's not the important part. Have you thought about the honeymoon?"

"Uh, no. No, we have not."

"Best part," Jamie swore. "Any thoughts?"

"Somewhere far, far away," Sarah smiled. She was personally thinking a cabin in New Zealand — hiking, swimming, sleeping in, sex, nobody for miles. Chuck, being sentimental, was thinking Paris.

"Have you been to Prague?" Andi asked. "It's my favorite city. I studied abroad there my junior year in college and just about died, it was so wonderful."

"Uh, yes, I have," Sarah said, trying to laugh it off. "And we _won't _be going there — we had a big fight there and broke up and didn't talk for a couple of months." She knew they were interrogating her because they had no other point of reference, but it was all getting quite uncomfortable. "So how's work going?"

So they talked more, about work and interests and things like that. She found out that Mitch and Andi had had a really rough patch right after Topher was born, and almost split up; that Jamie had been a vegan for 10 years, until Colin was born; that Andi did yoga every morning for 45 minutes and Jamie had run over 20 marathons. She tried to share, too: She talked about her recent discovery that she really enjoyed cooking (she left out how awesome she was at using knives, though), and about how last summer she and Chuck had joined a couples' softball league, but the game was just way too slow for her. She found out that Andi had forgotten to vote in the last two presidential elections too, a fact that enraged Jamie, who had interned on Capitol Hill when she was in college. They talked date nights and her sisters actually both liked to stay in and play cards and drink wine and watch movies, too, just like she and Chuck did.

"I remember Mom and Dad doing that too, actually," Jamie said wistfully.

"Me, too," Sarah said, remembering the three of them peeking over the stairwell to watch the date nights — always the first night that Dad came back from "working." "But Dad only drank beer."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that," Andi said softly. "Mom always liked pinot noir. It was such an odd wine for people to like back then, I remember thinking, but I really love it now."

"Me too," Sarah whispered.

She pulled into the spa then, and her sisters manhandled her into accepting the $450 package as repayment for the years of missed birthday presents.

"But I missed yours, too," she protested, trying to push her credit card onto the bamboo counter as Jamie body-checked her.

"Doesn't matter, Samuel, you're the baby sister and that's how it is," Andi said resolutely. The woman behind the counter, who looked vaguely like a bored Gwyneth Paltrow, quirked her lips up.

"She's too bossy, don't even try," Jamie grinned. She smiled back. When they were younger, the two of them had been _especially_ close — they were only 22 months apart; Andi was a little older, and a little more responsible and mother-hennish. They were schemers together, with Jamie usually taking the lead and doing the talking and Sarah doing the dirty work.

She stepped back. "I could take you down, you know," she teased. It was weird — she never used sarcasm on anybody but Chuck. But she was going to try it.

Andi raised an eyebrow. "Sure, little sister, but that won't stop me from paying for this."

The spa turned out to be surprisingly pleasant — she'd had massages and manicures before, but there was something beautifully stupefying and mind-clearing about the entire spa experience. Four hours later, Jello-limbed and senses completely dulled, they grabbed lemon-chicken salads before heading to a shopping mall.

"I love the post-spa feeling," Jamie said, lolling back against the headrest. "It's like being high, but _healthier_. So great."

"You know, sometimes, you say things like that, and I completely forget that you grew up into a mature adult who has a child," Andi remarked. "Where are we shopping?"

"I was thinking Westside? It's this outdoor plaza with tons of stores. Or we can do an area with a lot of boutiques."

"No. I'm craving a J. Crew trip," Jamie said. "I realize I'm a betrayal to the Berkeley faithful."

So they headed that way, and started by hitting up the Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Express, and J. Crew. As they were headed toward the Anne Taylor Loft, a familiar swish of long chestnut hair caught Sarah's eye. Oh god. "Ellie," she called. She turned to her sisters. "That's someone you two should probably meet." She jogged lightly over to Ellie, looking much more confident than she felt.

"Hey, what are you up to?" she said, hugging Ellie briefly.

"Picking up a birthday present for Devon. It's next week, you know."

"Of course — Chuck already picked out his present, don't worry," she beckoned nervously to her sisters. "Actually, Ellie, I have two people that — that I'd like you to meet. These are my sisters, Andi and Jamie. Andi, Jamie, this is Chuck's sister, Ellie." Fingers crossed, she prayed Ellie wouldn't mention the wedding and that her sisters wouldn't refer to her as Samuel. None of them knew nearly as much as each thought.

"Oh, my gosh," Ellie said, reaching forward and hugging them both. "I've heard so much about you. It's great to meet you."

Andi hugged her back tightly. "Thank you. We've heard a lot about you as well." Jamie hugged her as well, a bit less warmly. That was Jamie, though.

"Chuck wasn't kidding when he said you guys were virtually identical," Ellie gushed.

"It's the hair," Andi demurred. "Three blondes are _always_ related."

They stood chatting, mostly about the weather and work and Sarah and Chuck, for a few minutes before she sensed that the topic — wedding — was dangerous territory. "You know, we really need to get going," Sarah said quickly. "But why don't you guys join us for dinner?"

"Of course — you know, you guys have a full plate, why don't I just handle dinner?"

"Oh, Ellie, that's like, eleven people, that's totally not necessary," Sarah protested.

"No, no, it's totally fine. I have the entire afternoon off and have been _dying_ to try a few different lasagnas. I've got this _great_ roasted red pepper one."

"Ellie, I cannot stick you in a kitchen all afternoon. No. No way. Let's just go to Mama Margarita's. Please?"

"If we go there, Morgan will find out. And then he'll go into problem-child mode," Ellie pointed out, rolling her eyes. The two still really couldn't get along.

"Well, why don't we just invite Morgan and Casey as well?" She meant it sarcastically, but should have known better when Ellie was in Hostess mode.

"That sounds great!" Ellie enthused. "Might as well make a party out of it."

"Sounds … sounds great. How about 7? I can call and make the reservation," she said. Inside, though, her stomach was churning. _All of them? At dinner? Together?_

"Great! See you all then!" Ellie said, kissing everyone's cheeks. "So lovely to meet you!"

Sarah turned back to her sisters. Jamie looked half-amused, half-stunned, Andi just looked happy. "Sorry about that … I honestly didn't mean to make you meet like, all of Chuck's family this weekend."

"No, it's great," Andi said. "It's … It's really wonderful to see that you've got someone, Sarah."

"Ellie's been very welcoming," she said.

"Are Casey and Morgan Chuck's … brothers?" Jamie finally piped up.

"No, no. Morgan's been Chuck's best friend since kindergarten, though. He's … kind of an acquired taste. And Casey … is my … _our_ partner from work." No matter how much of a team they are now, no matter how equitable the balance of power was, Casey was still _her_ partner first. And she was pretty sure he would say the same thing. "He's … well, he doesn't like to talk a lot, but he's a good friend," she smiled. "He's important to us both."

"If they're important to you that's all that matters," Andi said earnestly. "Now, does anyone want coffee? I need a serious boost right about now."

As they're sitting at the tiny table outside the café, Sarah knew that she had to ask them The Question, especially if they were going to have dinner with Ellie. Because of the pregnancy (probably), Ellie only seemed capable of talking about the baby or the wedding.

"Mmm, taste this fruit torte, it's delicious," Andi said, pushing the dessert toward her.

"No, thanks," she said. "I, um, I actually have something to ask both of you." They looked up from their desserts expectantly. "And you can, absolutely, say no. In fact, it would be normal for you to say no. But, obviously, as you know, Chuck and I are getting married in May. And, um, I would like it — if you want to — if you two would be bridesmaids."

The two exchanged looks. "Are you sure?" Jamie asked. "I mean — yes — obviously, of course, we — well, I — would love to, but — you want us to?"

"Yes. Yes, I do," she said. "I got in contact with you because I wanted my family. I want you two there. This isn't because I'm doing what I'm supposed to … I'm doing this because I want you two there. So please? Will you do it?"

Grins practically split her sisters' faces in two. "Of course. Absolutely, of course," Andi grinned, pulling them in for a group hug. Sarah grinned, too. This was working.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey all! Look, an update! So sorry this went on an unintentional hiatus for so long, but I hope to get more up soon. I've updated the first few chapters so that everything fits Season 3 into canon, but then it basically goes from there. This chapter brings a bit more of what Sarah and Chuck are doing, career-wise, into it and sketched out how I think season 4 would go (this would take place at the beginning of season 5, basically), and it does make allusions to my "Heart of the Matter" series that I've published here over the last few weeks, though reading that is absolutely not necessary (though you should anyways). The action/mythology/spy stuff is not hugely detailed, and this fic isn't going to focus on the mythology, but please let me know if something is so obfuscated that it cramps the understanding of the story.

Again, this is just kind of a personal lark for me. It's just how I start with a "what if?" and fill it in intuitively. Beyond having a sketchy connection to the show's spy/mystery/action components, that fact also means that these characters might be a little OOC, mostly because it focuses on their personal behavior/reactions and not how they're going to behave in the situations shown on the show. The two this would most obviously happen to are Sarah and Casey, due to the narrow window we have on their personal lives. But I've worked hard to make the dialogue especially seem natural, so let me know what you think about that (as per a few requests, Casey and Sarah talk). Otherwise, this is just kind of sprawly and personal-growth-ish and normal life-filled and a little on the long side. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I wish I own Chuck; therefore I don't

* * *

_Same day, post-Disneyland_

"Don't freak out," Sarah whispered as she stared at Mama Margarita's. It would be OK, really. Maybe Ellie wouldn't feel well. Maybe Morgan wouldn't get Chuck's message. Maybe Casey couldn't be bothered.

"Samuel?" Andi asked, turning to see when, exactly, Sarah had stopped walking. "You … coming in?"

"Of course," Sarah smiled brightly. "Just … a head's up. Casey and Morgan are both a little … unusual."

"Samuel, I think we're more than a little equipped to handle 'unusual' lately," Jamie said.

"Very true," Sarah admitted. "Just a reminder, though — my name. Only Chuck really knows the whole story."

"Right, right," Andi said. "Question, though: Why Sarah?"

She shrugged. "No idea. I didn't pick it. I didn't really feel like a Sarah until last year, even."

They noticed the group immediately, though only the Disney segment had arrived. All three kids jumped up and ran to their respective mothers, and Jamie scooped up Colin happily, peppering his face with kisses. Emma, shrieking, had an entire list of things she wanted to tell her mother (half-written in Chuck's handwriting), and Andi stooped down to see what she had.

Laughing, Sarah headed to the table, where the guys were leaning back and watching. "Hey, Chuck," she said, leaning down to kiss him.

"Ellie texted me to say that they're on their way; I'm guessing Morgan and Casey are coming together," he said. "How was the spa?"

"Really, really fun," she replied, taking a seat. "How was Disney?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Chuck grinned.

She shook her head. "Of course not." Chuck _loved_ Disney. According to Ellie, the year he was seven he and Stephen would go every weekend, to ride the rides and geek out to the pseudo-advanced technology. "Who had more fun, you or the kids?"

"Not sure," he said. "Hey, Emma," he called. "Who was more excited about Disneyland? Me or you?"

Emma looked a little nervous and embarrassed, but finally said, "You were kinda silly there, Uncle Chuck."

Sarah laughed. "Oh, really? What did he do, Emma?"

She giggled. "He bought a Mickey hat and wore it all day!"

"I got you one too. Minnie, though," he grinned.

"Sarah! Chuck!" Ellie called, and she turned to see Ellie dashing in, followed by Devon. "Sorry we're running a little late."

"Completely fine, I don't know where Morgan or Casey are yet." She beckoned her sisters and brothers-in-law to stand for the necessary introductions and re-introductions.

"Ellie, Andi and Jamie are going to be in the wedding in May," she said after re-introducing the women.

"Oh, my god, that's so exciting! I've been trying to get her to make a decision about dresses for weeks, now you guys can help me out with that," Ellie smiled.

"That reminds me, Ellie — I think I want to go dark brown, not green."

"Whatever you want, Sarah, I swear. Just need to get moving on those."

She was about to make another excuse (work, of course), when Morgan appeared, along with the surprise-but-not-really guest of Alex. "Oh, thank god," she said. "Did you guys ride down with Casey?"

"Yeah, but check your phones, you're both needed in the van," Morgan said under his breath, and she immediately fished out her phone, as Chuck did the same. _Warner and Mackenzie hit a patch. ETA 3 mins, meet me at van_. Shit. "Hi, how are you? Morgan Grimes, Chuck's other life partner. Pleased to meet you. My girlfriend, Alex."

After her sisters introduced herself, she said, "Um, excuse me — and Chuck — we'll be just a minute, everyone order appetizers, please." As Chuck's arm went to the small of her back and they went out the restaurant, she caught Ellie grabbing Morgan's arm and ask him what was going on.

Shortly after they'd brought down the Ring, shipped Shaw off to a highly secure underground bunker, and discovered the Bartowski Family Batcave, they'd made a deal with Beckman: The three of them would lead a search for several interconnected rogue factions, using the considerable resources of the American intelligence communities combined with the valuable intelligence collected by Stephen Bartowski during his Orion years.

There were considerable downsides to taking on this assignment. They'd adopted Mr. Bartowski's code-name Hydra to cover these overlapping cabals, networks, and insurgent intelligence factions for a reason. They were more complex, and more amorphous than anything they'd ever encountered, meaning more dead-ends, travel, and long days and nights than they ever had experienced; as the leaders of the task force assigned to take them down, they had to do a considerable amount of mission design and intel and data analysis, which meant that sometimes they were barely in the field; what they were doing was so ridiculously hush-hush that they knew that if they got caught, Beckman and the intelligence community would deny any knowledge of their activities and could _never_ offer ransom or rescue, beyond what their team could cobble together. Plus, continuing with the government meant that Chuck, who still had the Intersect in his head, flashed pretty regularly. That fact still worried her slightly, even though he hadn't had problems since he'd gotten the Governor.

From their perspective, though, the benefits outweighed the long hours and dangerous situations: Most importantly, they had located Chuck's mother, Mary, in May. She'd been taken custody years ago by an inner sanctum of CIA agents years ago in order to protect her from those groups; while they had initially believed that Chuck's dad had been out of the loop, they'd eventually figured out that he had been a part of the plan, which was designed to protect their family. Mary was remaining in protective custody until Hydra was destroyed or reduced to a more manageable level, but Ellie had been able to connect with her as well, and Sarah was proud of her involvement in their reunion. And they were getting close, she could feel it, to being entirely done with the project and, perhaps, the government.

On a day-to-day, level, too, though, there were other pluses: They could be based in LA and not Washington (the farther from Beckman, the better); between missions, they got to act and be a fairly quiet, normal couple, which she found more refreshing or relieving than she had ever expected; while prices on their heads had increased, their day-to-day lives were much more stable. They could (and were encouraged to) assign smaller missions to their junior agents. Sarah, as the most professional and organized, was nominally the head of the task force, code-named Inheritance, and she'd assigned a smaller mission to three junior agents on Friday night, so that she and Chuck could get the normal day on Saturday. But when they got into trouble, it didn't matter that it was her day off — they were her responsibility.

"What's the situation?" she asked as she slid open the door to the completely-not-subtle-at all black tactical van.

"Relax, it's nothing huge. Just idiots hitting some roadblocks," Casey said, shaking his head. He did not appreciate their young and talented, albeit comparatively raw, junior agents. She rolled her eyes. All of them had been handpicked because they were exceptional and promising agents with their Red Tests and a few years under their belts — and they had not broken down because of Casey's barbs in their first day.

"We can _hear_ you," Lindsay Mackenzie, a 25-year-old agent that Chuck had privately nicknamed Carina Jr., huffed from a monitor. She and Theo, Chuck's personal favorite, had been assigned to retrieve a data drive containing information from a Hydra financier's bank account the night before, which would give them leads on possible group agents and activities.

"Are you guys in Clubhouse?" Sarah asked, squinting and pulling back her hair. _Really_? They were calling from the base because they were in _trouble_? "This couldn't, you know, wait?"

"We were able to get the drive with the schematics lifted no problem, but when we started hacking it, the hack set off some sort of failsafe and it looks like it wiped the information," Theo said, looking defensive and embarrassed. He was a CalTech-educated engineer and a _great_ white-collar guy, and usually pretty good at hacks, too, though he had nothing on Chuck. "I've tried like, 60 different ways to recover the information." In the background, Mackenzie looked impatient and irritated. "I'm really sorry, guys."

"It's fine, Theo, you did the right thing by calling us. Is there any way that the hacking attempts could have triggered a homing device?" Sarah quizzed.

"I scanned pre-hack and it didn't look like it, and it was a pretty messy hack job, so if something was there it would have happened. Plus, we've been working on the drive for about two hours already and nobody's surrounded the complex."

"I was able to put a trace on his phones, too, and re-open the lines we had into his security cameras last night, and it doesn't appear they know what's going on," Mackenzie added. That was a good sign. It was a weekend and the information wasn't incredibly time-sensitive — the financier's contacts would still be his contacts in 12 hours — and so dinner could still happen, provided nobody's life was in danger. Even Sarah-of-four-years ago would recognize that fact.

She looked at Chuck. "You got his?"

"Of course," he said. "Theo, pack up the computer and the drive and bring it all to Mama Margarita's. Text me from the parking lot, wait in your car, and I'll crack it later tonight. I'm sure you did just fine, buddy, some of these things are beasts."

"And Mackenzie, stay and monitor his house and phone lines for another few hours. You're still heading to Guatemala tomorrow morning to meet with the station agents there on that arms shipment lead, right?" Sarah added.

"Right. I meant to ask, if I wrap up by Wednesday can I go with Bradley to Nigeria? I'm more familiar with the region."

"We'll see. One mission at a time," she said. "OK, we're out."

"Is it just me, or do the noobs get noob-ier every year?" Casey huffed as they walked into the restaurant.

"It's not so much that they get noob-ier, Casey; I think you just get old-fogey-er," Chuck needled. "Hey, a few more years and the youngest ones could call you Pops and sit on your lap to hear stories about that scary old Saddam Hussein dude."

"Chuck," she said warningly, because really: A grandpa joke would only make Casey think about the fact that Morgan and Alex were having sex, and that would make him testy and irritable and very likely to smash guacamole in Morgan's face in front of her entire family, which wouldn't be good. _When did I start thinking and sounding like Ellie_? She wondered. It was borderline scary.

"Hey, everyone, sorry about that," she said as they approached the table. "A little work thing we needed to take care of."

"Is everything OK, Chuck?" Ellie asked, leaning forward a little.

"Absolutely," he said, putting a hand on Ellie's shoulder. "OK, everyone, this is John Casey, my and Sarah's partner from work. Casey, everyone. Alright, let's eat!"

Despite the fact that she had a huge extended family to entertain and introduce, Sarah couldn't help but let her mind wander to the data drive. It was kind of an occupational hazard, especially given her "only mildly controlling" (Chuck's words) mentality. She hoped that she'd made the right call. Maybe they should have gone over, taken a look at the drive immediately. Hell, they probably should have gone to the party to retrieve the damned thing the night before, instead of staying in to play Settlers of Catan with her sisters and brothers-in-law. Just as she was letting her mind wander, though, she felt Chuck's hand tug hers under the table. "It's fine, relax," he murmured into her ear. "They're going to start getting worried if you start withdrawing." He was right. She needed to focus. They needed to play off their jobs as normal, ordinary, non-dangerous, non-life-interrupting occupations.

Shortly after the food arrived, Chuck excused himself, only to return 5 minutes later with a laptop bag slung over his shoulder. He left and came back unobtrusively, but there was a change in the atmosphere's charge as the civilians all, one by one, realized what might be in the backpack. "Just a laptop, people," Chuck finally said, and his forthrightness cracked the ice and dissolved the tension. "And a pretty boring one at that. I mean, come on, it's not even a Mac."

Besides that, the dinner was almost suspiciously hitch-free. The two of them fielded a lot of questions about the wedding, and had answers to about half of them. Ellie and Andi absolutely hit it off, and Dan seemed to think that Morgan was fascinatingly quirky. Alex, who was about to take the LSATs, lapped up every word Jamie said. Mitch, Dan, and Casey spent most of the night discussing football and their workout regimens and favorite protein shakes. They stayed at the restaurant until the kids passed out; then, somehow, Ellie and Awesome and Morgan and Alex managed to invite themselves over for after-dinner drinks. Damn it. They had data to hack.

Chuck could basically see her thought process, of course. "I'll hack it after everyone goes to sleep," he said as he pulled wine glasses from the cabinet.

"Warner spent three hours trying to hack it," she said, studying the bottles of wine they had available. One pinot noir, of course.

"Yeah, but he's Warner. You forget that I am Chuck Bartowski, Hacker Extraordinaire," he smirked.

"That's a new member of the Justice League, right?" she flirted, running her hands up his chest and linking them behind his neck. She kissed him lightly.

"You know it. I went from saving the lives of small electronic devices to saving them from the world's most ham-handed hacker."

She laughed. "He's really that bad."

"Well," he contemplated. "It could be worse. Mackenzie could have tried hacking it." Off her look, her look, Chuck burst into laughter. Mackenzie was great with a gun and a knife, but somehow managed to break her personal laptop so often that she'd saved Chuck's number as "Lifesaver" in her phone.

"You guys got everything in here?" Ellie asked, walking into the kitchen, one hand on her just-beginning-to-swell stomach.

"Yeah," Sarah said. "Just getting everything together."

"I really like your sisters, Sarah," Ellie added in a low voice, with one of those irrepressibly Ellie smiles.

"Yeah, they're, uh, really great, aren't they?" Sarah smiled, handing her a plate of cheese.

Chuck handed her the bottle of wine, kissed her temple and said, "I'm going to be right back." He grabbed the laptop bag from the counter and walked to the basement entrance.

Ellie bit her lip. "Is everything OK?" she demanded. Ellie always wanted to know that everything was OK in spy world, putting Sarah in an awkward position. Sometimes, honestly, she still felt like she was handling a Bartowski — and Ellie was 10 times more exhausting than anything Chuck had ever put her through. At least she could _actually_ tell Chuck things.

"Yeah, he's just dropping something in the office," she said. "He'll be right up." She grabbed the remaining bottles of wine and headed into the living room. "Here we go," she announced to everyone. "Everyone all set?"

"Yeah, we're great. Kids all tucked in. We were thinking about playing Pictionary, what do you think?" Andi asked brightly.

"Or we could watch a movie," Jamie countered.

She looked at Casey, who had followed them there for some reason, and looked like he'd just swallowed a golf ball. "I'm really sorry, but we don't have a Pictionary board. We definitely have a ton of movies, though. About 70 percent are science fiction —"

"And made of _awesome_," Morgan interjected. "Eh, sorry Devon, for crowding on the phrase."

"It's totally Awesome, Morgster," Devon shook his head.

"Anyways, we have that." Sarah smiled.

"A lot of older ones, too," Chuck said from the doorway, arms crossed under his armpits. "Mostly courtesy of Sarah having taste."

"Oh, my god, I love _Notorious_, do you have that?" Jamie said.

"Cary Grant? Are you kidding? Of course we do," Chuck rolled his eyes and grinned, looking pointedly at Sarah.

"I'm actually going to go hit the hay," Casey announced. "Walker, walk out with me?"

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Start the movie without me, OK?"

"Well, that request to talk was about as unsubtle as a gong," she remarked as soon as they were outside. "What's up, Casey?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. You just looked like you were two seconds away from needing a three hour session with your favorite punching bag."

She gave him a look, but finally said, "Thanks. I was doing fine, though." She reconsidered. "Basically fine."

They'd reached the Crown Vic. "It's kind of pathetically obvious how much you want this to work," he said.

"I'm sorry my and Chuck's lady feelings have been dragging you into these situations for the last five years," she apologized, leaning against the hood and suppressing a smile. Standing by the driver-side door, he faced the other way, his hands folded on the roof of the car, a cigar spinning between two fingers.

"It's not all bad," he said. "Ellie can cook. Alex can cook. You can cook."

"Well, I'm learning to," she said. "Trying to learn," she amended.

"Cut yourself a break, Walker. You're great at basically everything, but even you're not perfect at the beginning," he said, shifting next to her.

She smiled, peeling a torn cuticle back. "You know, I realized that, in all the ridiculous training, they never taught us any basic domestic skill. I can tie 50 different kinds of knots … throw a knife with deadly accuracy from 100 feet … speak nine languages, but 18 months after we move in together and my boyfriend still complains I don't make the bed neatly enough."

"That's not a domestic skill, that's Bartowski reminding the world he was raised by his pathologically anal-retentive sister."

She laughed a little. "You know what I mean."

"It's called growing up, Walker. The agency made you a spy. They never said you had to be an adult to do that." He pockets the cigar. "And we all grow up sometime. Hell, look at Grimes."

"I guess so," she smiled, hopping down from the hood. "Thanks, Casey."

"Night, Walker," he called. She walked into the house considerably lighter than she had been 10 minutes earlier.

"Everything OK?" Chuck whispered as she curled into his side.

"Yeah," she said, meeting his eyes so he would know she was telling the truth. He didn't look convinced, so she kissed him lightly as she ran her fingers through his curls. "Promise. Now shut up, I love this movie."

Luckily, Devon, Ellie, Morgan and Alex cut out as soon as the movie finished, and the other four couples headed to their beds. Chuck wanted to get a crack at the device, and she wanted him to look at it too, so they double-backed downstairs after hugging everyone goodnight.

"You know, you don't have to stay with me just so I don't accidentally stay up all night," he said as they headed downstairs. "I promise I'll come up in two hours."

She smiled indulgently. "Of course, sweetie. I'm just coming downstairs to finish a few reports." Which was partially true. They had a biannual trip to Washington coming up to reevaluate the project, and she needed to make sure she was on top of everything.

With a minor assist from the Intersect, Chuck was soon hacking merrily away, streaming the names through a database he'd built of known Hydra contacts, the CIA's larger database of terrorists and rogue/enemy operatives, and another program he'd designed of possible contacts listed by locations they were known to frequent, which was handier than one would think. He had the entire file hacked within 90 minutes, securely uploaded the data to the Inheritance mainframe, and emailed Theo. "Bedtime," he announced. "Put down the paperwork, Agent Walker."

"You don't need to ask twice," she said, shutting down her laptop.

"See? It's not even one," he said as they walked upstairs. "And you thought I'd be working on that thing all night."

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Charles Carmichael," she teased, leaning over to kiss him before pressing her hand to the scanner.

"Oh. Hey, guys. Where were you?" Jamie, sitting at the kitchen island in her pajamas, asked as they emerged from the basement.

"We — our home office is downstairs," she said, surprised. "Just needed to finish something up. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'm just a bit of an insomniac sometimes," Jamie smiled.

"Well, this is kismet," Andi said from the door, also clad in flannel pants and a tank top. "I didn't expect any of you to be up."

"You couldn't sleep either?" Jamie asked.

"Nope," Andi took a seat. "Sarah, you?"

"Working," she said. "Why don't I make up some hot chocolate, though? Chuck?"

"I'm actually going to hit the sack," he said. "Disney, sun, you know how it is. Night, ladies." He kissed her lightly before disappearing up the stairs.

"You know, I never met any of your past boyfriends — besides Danny Dennehy in second grade — but god, you picked well, Sarah. Chuck's such a keeper," Andi said as Sarah set the teakettle on.

"I know, right?" Jamie shrieked a little. "Seriously, the way he looks at you, Samuel. How long have you guys known each other again?"

"Four years. We've been together for about a year and a half."

"God. Maintaining that level of openly _liking_ each other is disgusting," Jamie grinned.

"And, Mitch said he carried Emma on his shoulders for like half the afternoon," Andi said. "Even Mitch won't carry her around that much. She pulls hair when she's afraid she's going to fall."

She smiled, slightly embarrassed. "Chuck's pretty special." She thought over Shaw, Bryce. God, if only her sisters knew. She let herself, picture, briefly, what a Jamie lecture over either of those boyfriends would have been like, because she can easily imagine Jamie vocally disapproving of them. Andi would have just asked her if she was happy, which would have been worse.

God. Enough.

"So apparently my insomnia is genetic?" she asked. She'd always attributed it to the job.

Jamie shrugged. "I refuse to call it 'insomnia.' I just think we need less sleep."

Andi snorted. "Speak for yourself. It's genetic, Sarah. We're unable to let our minds rest."

"Which is why I need less sleep."

"That is an _awful_ argument, Counselor."

"Whatever, it's been ages since I was in a courtroom," Jamie sloughed off the dig.

"Dad never slept much, I don't think," Andi said, in a tone that meant she'd suddenly just remembered that fact.

"How do you even remember?" Jamie said, her mood dampened by the mention of their dad.

"I just do, James. I remember him clomping around in the kitchen at 2 a.m."

"It's true. I don't think he ever got more than four or five hours a night," Sarah said, hoping to settle this quickly.

"Probably because he thought the FBI would come arrest him in his sleep," Jamie said. Which was probably true, and Sarah said so.

"Do you think he'll ever come back, Sarah?" Andi asked.

She deflated. "Probably. I don't know when though. Do you want me to contact you if he does?"

Andi paused. "I honestly don't know."

"Don't contact me if you want him to live," Jamie warned, downing her hot chocolate and raising her mug. "Toast? To the three of us one day being able to be normal sisters who don't have to worry about crazy fathers and crazier shenanigans."

"We _are_ normal, just a different type of normal," Andi defended.

"What does that mean?" Jamie asked.

"We're normal because the three of us love each other and stick together. We're different because sometimes our lives might resemble a soap opera. But even Sarah, even your life is normal, even when it's crazy."

Sarah smiled wanly. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what Andi meant. She was so used to being a mild social burden on Chuck, and she wasn't sure how to react here, if she should apologize to them for being awkward. "Well it certainly is a little … unorthodox in a lot of ways," she said.

"Nah," Jamie said, her sunny disposition and crooked smile restored. "Andi's right. As long as you and Chuck are just a couple at the center of all this crazy, you're as normal as they come. That's what counts. And that's what's fantastic," she smiled. "Alright. Bedtime for me."

"Sounds good," Andi yawned. "Sarah?"

Sarah smiled. "Yeah. Thanks for today, you two. It was … really really great."

"Ditto," Andi said.

"I really think we're getting the hang of this again," Jamie grinned.

They walked up the stairs and bid their goodnights. After yanking on one of Chuck's shirts, she fell asleep immediately, contentedly exhausted.


End file.
